MISSION STATEMENT
The competitive purpose of this Junior Olympic softball event is to provide a quality playing venue with like teams so that the softball athlete can state her case for why she should be playing at the collegiate level.

COLLEGE COACHES
142 coaches from 104 colleges and universities in 15 states attended the 2015 showcase, the complete list can be viewed at:

FRED BEEKMAN PARK ROAD CONSTRUCTION ALERT
There is some road repair work taking place on the south end of Carmack Road that showcase participants and attendees need to be aware of. It will not impair your entry or exit from OSU Fred Beekman Park, but it could add a few minutes to your arrival time or exit time.

When you enter Fred Beekman Park from Lane Avenue you will be traveling south on Carmack Road and will be able to see the softball fields on the left. Continue south to Arthur E. Adams Drive and turn right to enter the WC5 parking lot. There is a large orange sign indicating this. Now when you exit the parking lot, go out the same way you entered from Arthur E. Adams Drive and you will be fine. There is another entry/exit point to/from parking lot WC5 that is further south on Carmack Road. You can get into WC5 at this point, but if you leave WC5 from this point, you will only be able to go south on Carmack Road and will have to use a detour through the west campus area to get back to the main roads bounding the park. You will not be able to travel north on Carmack Road if you use the southernmost exit from WC5.

What this will affect slightly is driving between Fred Beekman Park and Coffey Road Park where the 10U age group plays. Previously, when you parked in WC5 at Beekman, the only entrance to the lot was the one at the south end of it, the one off of Arthur E. Adams Drive was always shut off. So when you exited WC5, you could shoot straight east on Carmack Road which takes you down across Kenny Road and on to Coffey Road Park via Woody Hayes Drive. This portion of Carmack that turns east is now shut off. So you are going to have to go back to Lane Avenue and turn right, go to the traffic light and turn right onto Kenny Road and then turn left at the first traffic light onto Woody Hayes Drive which will take you to Coffey Road Park.

AGE GROUP PLAY-UPS
Teams must indicate their true age eligible status on their application form. Age eligible is defined as the age group a team will play its state tournament or national event in. The rules of engagement for play-ups are as follows:

18U Premier Division - any 16U age eligible team may apply to play in this division.

16U Premier Division - only 16U age eligible teams may apply to play in this division.

14U Premier Division - any 14U age eligible team may apply to play in this division.

14U Futures Division - any 14U age eligible team may apply to play in this division.

12U and 10U age eligible teams are not eligible to play up.

The full selection committee will make the final decision on a team's play-up application. If a team has applied for a play-up slot but is not granted that slot by the selection committee, the team can decide whether or not to accept their invitation to play.

As for having two 14U playing sites, 14U Premier will be targeted towards, but not limited to, 2nd year 2001 14U teams (2019 high school graduates). 14U Futures will be targeted towards, but not limited to, 1st year 2002 14U teams (2020 high school graduates).

Hilliard Municipal Park is located 8 miles (25 minutes travel time) west of the OSU campus. This playing site was added to address college coach requests for having a closer grouping of 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 athletes than we were able to achieve with just the OSU and Pickerington Central playing sites which are 45 minutes apart.

FORMAT
The showcase will be a (5) game minimum. There will be (4) pool games with teams seeded into a single elimination bracket. See Showcase Rules for an explanation of the seeding procedure and the 18U Premier/Platinum split.Schedule requests and changes will not be able to be accommodated. Weather permitting, championship games are scheduled to start at:

The entry fee must be a personal check or money order made out to "Ohio Stingrays". All teams will be notified via e-mail that their application and entry fee have been received. Teams should pay for the division they apply for. We will make entry fee adjustments after the selection process if need be.

Refunds will not be made after your team has been accepted into the showcase.

For Canadian teams, if paying the entry fee in Canadian dollars, the entry fee is the US entry fee plus a $45 US international check processing fee that our bank charges converted to Canadian dollars based on the Bank of Canada August 20, 2015 exchange rate.

CHECKS
No checks will be cashed until a team has been notified of being accepted in the showcase and responds by e-mail that it will accept the invitation and any requirements attached to it. All communication regarding the showcase will occur via e-mail.

Checks of teams that we are not able to provide a playing slot for will be torn in two separate halves and photo copied for our records - the torn check halves will be shredded. We will not be able to return un-cashed checks. Thank you for understanding.

DUE DATEAll entry fees must be postmarked by Saturday January 2nd, 2016. The selection process will not begin before this date. Selection will not be done on a first come, first served basis.

SELECTION
Selection will be determined by committee only. Many criteria will be used to determine the final showcase field. Every year it is a painstaking process that we approach with a great deal of effort. Among the factors to be considered will be strength/results of your actual 2015 playing schedule, strength of your proposed 2016 playing schedule, completeness and honesty of paperwork, and for 18U, 16U, & 14U teams, a listing of the colleges and universities following your team.

Due to the number of applicants, we will not be able to provide teams with individual explanations of why we were not able to provide a playing slot for them. Thank you for understanding.

PLAYING STATUS NOTIFICATION
All teams will be notified of their playing status via e-mail by Monday January 11th 8:00 am at the latest.

CHECK-IN
PGF will accept any sanctioning body's insurance. Teams DO NOT need to be PGF registered in order to participate. Teams must leave a hard copy of their insurance certificate at check-in.

If your team does not have PGF team insurance or is not PGF registered, then each player/family on your team will have to sign a liability waiver. You will be given a packet with the waiver forms at check-in. Please have the form signed by each player/family and returned in the packet back to the check-in station as soon as possible. Thank you for understanding and cooperating!

All head coaches must leave a hard copy of their NFHS concussion training certificate as outlined by Ohio House Bill 143 - please review the Youth Sports Concussions web page @

The Pickerington Local School District will charge a $5 one time weekend pass fee at Pickerington North and at Pickerington Central. Each team will receive (3) coach passes, children under 10 are free. The Ohio Stingrays have no control over this policy and will receive no funds from this fee.

PARKING
Parking at Ohio State is free with restrictions. For Fred Beekman Park, you must use Carmack lot WC5 which is located on the west side of Carmack Road just south of Arthur E. Adams Drive. Parking in the Speech & Hearing lot on Arthur E. Adams Drive just south of Fred Beekman Park is not permitted at all, your car will be fined and towed to Carmack lot WC5.

For Coffey Road Park, you must use the Sisson lots which are south of the playing fields. Parking along Coffey Road is not permitted since it is for handicapped patrons and OSU staff personnel.

For any other metered location at OSU, you must use the PayNDisplay machines. These machines take credit cards only and you must enter you car's license plate number. Place your receipt on your car's dash board.

Parking on the grass at Hilliard Municipal Park is strictly prohibited.

TEAM & SPECTATOR CONDUCT
This showcase is a Junior Olympic event and as such, excessive behavior and the use of profanity by any adult or player will lead to ejection from the playing site and could lead to denial of entry for their team the following year.

ALCOHOL & SMOKING
The use of alcohol and smoking by any attendee is prohibited at all playing sites. Any person caught with or using alcohol will be ejected from the playing site and their team will not be invited back in the future.

CONCESSIONS
Concessions will be available at all playing sites. The concessions at Ohio State will be managed and staffed by the Ohio Stingrays - concessions at the Pickerington Central Softball Complex will be managed and staffed by the Pickerington Central Athletic Booster Club - concessions at the Pickerington North Softball Complex will be managed and staffed by the Pickerington North Softball Club - concessions at Hilliard Municipal Park will be managed and staffed by Destination Hilliard. There may be differences in menu items and pricing.

Coolers can be brought into any playing site.

PETS
Pets are allowed at OSU Fred Beekman Park, OSU Coffey Road Park and Hilliard Municipal Park. Pets must be leashed and their owners must be prepared for clean-up if necessary. Pets are not allowed inside the Pickerington Central and North Softball Complexes.

RESTROOMS
Indoor restrooms are provided at the upper playing quad and at the lower playing quad adjacent to the sand volleyball courts at Fred Beekman Park.

Portable restrooms provided at Coffey Road Park.

Indoor restrooms as well as portable restrooms are provided at Hilliard Municipal Park.

Indoor restrooms are provided at the Pickerington Central Softball Complex.

Portable restrooms are provided at the Pickerington North Softball Complex.

HOME RUN FENCES
OSU Fred Beekman Park (18U) will have temporary home run fences.

OSU Coffey Road Park (10U) will not have home run fences.

Hilliard Municipal Park (16UP & 14UP) will have temporary home run fences.

Pickerington Central (14UF) and Pickerington North (12U) have permanent home run fences.

FIELD PREPARATION
The Ohio Stingrays will supply dedicated labor at all playing sites to hand rake and re-line (batter's box, pitcher's circle, foul lines) all fields before every game. All fields will be dragged with mechanization at the end of the playing day in preparation for the following day.

WEATHER
The Showcase Committee can and will control as many aspects as possible to insure that your team has the best playing experience possible, but weather is not one of them. In the event of inclement weather, the Ohio Stingrays Showcase Committee, The Ohio State University, the Pickerington Central and North Softball Complex staffs, and Hilliard Municipal Park will do their very best to get all games in. But you are applying to the showcase realizing that the Ohio Stingrays Showcase Committee reserves the right to alter this event in any manner fit to accomplish the mission of showcasing the softball athletes with the maximum number of games possible under the circumstances. Coaches will receive a rain line phone number at check-in. We will also use the One Call Now system to alert teams and college coaches of schedule changes.

OSU has a weather radar system that "sees" lightning well before we can see it with our eyes, OSU will sound a warning if the radar "sees" lightning 20 miles from the parks, at 10 miles from the parks, they will instruct the parks to evacuate to our cars. The Pickerington sites and Hilliard will run off of the traditional sight system for lightning with the umpires making the decision to suspend play.

Lightning will be automatic cause for suspending play for (30) minutes.

Ohio State, Pickerington Central, Pickerington North and Hilliard will control the decision on when labor can be used on the fields to get them back in playing shape.

The Ohio Stingrays Showcase Committee will control the decision on any adjustments to the playing schedule. The following will be available in the event of inclement weather:

Field Dry - purchased by the Ohio Stingrays and stored at the playing sites

Mechanized Drag - (1) per (4) fields in play to help with wet field preparation

Labor - Stingrays parents as needed in addition to the facility field maintenance staffs.

WEATHER REFUNDS
If the showcase is rained out in its entirety, refunds will be based on:

Every inclement weather situation is impossible to predict and create a refund policy for. The Ohio Stingrays Showcase Committee will make every attempt to be fair to teams that are not able to complete their 5-game minimum, but will not be able to define refund formulas for these situations beforehand. Please allow (2) to (4) weeks for an inclement weather refund.

Each team must list (2) email contacts and (2) cell phone contacts. In order for your application to go to the full selection committee in January, you must send in your entry fee to the address below by January 2, 2016.

SEND ENTRY FEE TO:
Ohio Stingrays
94 Montrose Way
Columbus, OH 43214

ENTRY FEE MUST BE POSTMARKED BY SATURDAY JANUARY 2, 2016

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